Hundreds of thousands of pensioners are thought to be missing out on benefits they may desperately need due to being “digitally excluded”.

A new ‘mystery shopping’ exercise carried out by the charity Age UK found older people who want to apply for Housing Benefit or Council Tax Reduction face a “huge postcode lottery” if they do not use computers.

The latest Government estimates indicate around 310,000 pensioner households are entitled to Housing Benefit but are not claiming…